I was in Kilaeua National Park, a couple of miles past the end of Chain of Craters road (it’s where the active lava flows show up right before they enter the ocean).

We had quite a few melty boots on that trip (one woman was wearing hiking sneakers that didn’t fare well at all). It tends to happen when you stand in one place too long, although you can usually feel the heat before they get TOO melty…

The heat from the lava is incredible, but it’s also a good warning to keep off. And the newest, barely-cooled lava flows look and sound different from the cooler ones – they have a sort of iridescent sheen to them and as they cool, little bits of glass crack and pop off their surfaces. It’s like listening to some kinds of breakfast cereal when you’ve just poured milk on.

I was tracking bats in residential areas near Toronto’s High Park. We try to understand how bats use space in urban environments. Mainly where they feed at night and where they roost (bat resting location) during the day. Understanding how wildlife use space in urban environments may help us to plan networks of green spaces better in the future. Importantly it helps us understand if wildlife are even using existing green spaces in the way we think they are!